Gonna be posting a backlog over the next couple of days.

In one universe, Argo is delayed from starting a quest on the 22nd floor by a scam involving smuggled potions. In this universe, she isn't. Kirito and Asuna rescue her one week later.

Warning: This fic will contain both mentions and depictions of a traumatic situation, someone dealing with both traumatic situations and PTSD, and a medium-burn romance involving three people, two of which are already in a committed relationship. If any of that offends you, or is simply something you don't feel like reading at this point, I recommend that you do not read.

Caring For A Rat

"Is she going to be okay?"

Asuna stroked one hand down Argo's back. The info broker was sound asleep, leaning heavily against my wife.

"I think she will be, she just needs to rest." We were resting in my house in Algade, having decided that the house on the 22nd floor was unsuitable, despite the fact that we had essentially gotten it for free

"That's good." Argo looked kind of cute like this, curled up into Asuna's side on the couch, seeking comfort in the other woman. It was very out of character for her, though.

I sat down on the other side of Argo, leaning back into the couch cushions. "I'm really glad we found her," I said, "If she hadn't thrown that bottle down…" I didn't finish the sentence. Asuna knew that we probably wouldn't have found her.

We had found Argo trapped on top of a tornado, in the very house we were looking for; prevented from sending any messages until a quest was completed. Unfortunately for Argo, she hadn't been able to gather the key items of the quest before getting trapped in there, and forced to watch as hostile mobs gathered around the base of the tornado she was trapped on, having to fight off flying enemies every hour.

She had been there for over a week before we had been able to find her.

At least Asuna had been able to cheese the quest that brought the house back by skipping most of the requirements with prior knowledge of the story the quest was based on.

"Well, we did, and she's going to be okay." Asuna's words rang with finality, like she would carve the world apart and pull it back together to make certain that one of her few friends was okay.

I hadn't inquired about her circumstances before SAO, but Asuna had only one or two friends inside the Knights of Blood Oath, and I only knew of Lisbeth and Argo outside of it. Asuna was far from a social butterfly, despite her popularity.

Argo was one of my few friends, too, and I shuddered to think about what might have happened if we hadn't found that dog in time to reach Argo. She had been trapped in a house at the top of a tornado for over a week, fighting off hostile mobs almost constantly, and from how she had acted before finally falling asleep, it seemed unlikely that she had gotten any sleep.

"...Kii-bou…" Argo murmured, shivering, "...Aa-chan…no...no..." The small woman curled in on herself, quivering in fear. Asuna pulled Argo into an embrace, the little info broker calming almost instantly, burrowing herself further into my wife, as if trying to siphon all the heat being produced into her body.

"I need to get dinner started," Asuna said, starting to reluctantly unwrap herself from the whiskered girl, "Can you stay with her while I cook?"

"Of course."

It was one of the hardest moments of my life, sitting there, holding Argo close to me, reassuring myself that she was here, and alive, and not trapped, desperately trying to figure out how to escape while fighting off mobs.

It was almost five minutes later that I felt Argo stir. She shifted against me, trying to burrow into my body further, reassuring herself that she was safe. She stayed in that state of half-consciousness until Asuna had finished preparing dinner.

When dinner was over, all of us having eaten our fill, Argo started to return to her old, teasing self.

"So… When were you gonna tell me ya got married?" Argo had timed her statement to make me do a spit-take. Asuna, who had already drunk her tea, simply set her cup down on the saucer, and leveled a glare at Argo.

"When we told the rest of our friends," The chef said, "We were hoping to make it a surprise, but if you already know…"

"Eh, don' worry, I'm not gonna sell this," Argo said, chuckling at our expressions. The Info Broker was famous for selling any piece of knowledge she could get her hands on, and though she did have her "favorites", that typically meant that there was a higher price tag attached, not that she was refusing to sell their data.

"I owe you a lot." The info broker took advantage of our silence to snatch a cookie from the center of the table, "So in addition to a blackout on your relationship, I'm givin' each a' you one favor, to be cashed in later."

That was... a lot, for Argo. The last time she had given me a favor was when she was in danger from another group of players. For her to admit that she owed us meant that she thought that she was going to die.

"Thanks," I said with as much sincerity as I could muster, "I'll treasure it."

"Now, I've gotta go check up on my Net-" Argo paused in the middle of getting up from her seat. Asuna had grabbed one of her arms, keeping a grip that I knew from experience was almost impossible to break.

"You can do that from here easily," My wife said, all but dragging the whiskered girl back down into her seat.

"Besides, You haven't really had breakfast in Aincrad until Asuna's made you breakfast," I chimed in, trying to convince Argo to stay. Though neither Asuna or I tried to let it show in front of her, we were scared for Argo. It had only been a day since we had gotten her out of that house, and most of that time had been spent trying to finish a quest with an Argo who was all but dead on her feet.

Needless to say, neither Asuna or I was entirely comfortable with letting Argo go off on her own at the moment.

"Okay," Argo said, ducking into her cloak, "I guess I can stay a lil' longer." She sat back down at the table awkwardly, clearly not sure of how she was supposed to act.

That awkwardness lasted well into the night, with Argo sitting hunched over in one corner as she caught up with her network and started putting together a new edition of her newspaper. Laughing Coffin remnants had been discovered in the KoB while Argo was gone, and while rumors were already flying, more people would believe it if the info broker confirmed it.

With a flick of my eyes, I told Asuna that we needed to talk. Wordlessly, she followed me to the bedroom, which dampened all sound coming from it.

"I'm worried about Argo," I said the instant that Asuna shut the door behind her.

My wife nodded in agreement, "She hasn't been able to meet our eyes all evening," She said, her face grave with concern, "And she hasn't even teased us about being married once."

"Have you noticed her staring at us?" I asked. When my wife answered in the negative, I outlined my observations.

Every so often, usually about five minutes, Argo would look up from her work, and look at one of us with some indescribable emotion. If she caught one of us looking at her during that time, she would startle shock, before fading back into her cloak, working on catching up with her network again. Until she stopped to stare at someone again.

"That's strange," Asuna said after I had detailed my observations to her. "Do you think she wants to ask us something?"

"Probably. But what would be so embarrassing that she would hesitate to ask it?" I wondered aloud, leaning back against one of the dressers.

"Something personal, most likely."

"Like her whiskers?" I couldn't help myself, and we had a good chuckle at the admittedly quite funny backstory behind Argo's trademark look. It was a similar scenario to this one, where the whiskered girl got in over her head with a quest, only that time the results were much more benign, and she ended up with whiskers as a mark of her failure.

Unfortunately, this quest had much more serious consequences for Argo, and hopefully we could help her through them.

"Well, I think we should let her know that whatever questions she may have, we're open for them," Asuna said, clapping her hands together to signal the end of our conversation, Turning around to open the door.

Any plans I had before Asuna opened the door were destroyed after she opened it; Argo sat huddled in front of the door, shivering in her coat, her eyes staring blankly ahead. Cautiously, Asuna stepped through the doorway, tiptoeing around to rest a hand on Argo's shoulder.

The whiskered girl shakily turned her head to look into my wife's eyes, then flung herself into Asuna, toppling the both of them over as Argo started sobbing. "Y-you, you came! You came! You came! You came! You came..." Argo trailed off into more sobs as I felt my heart tear into shreds.

She'd just been trapped in a hostile house for a week, and we'd left her alone. Asuna met my eyes over the top of Argo's head, and I saw the pain and self-hatred in them. We'd made an agreement to do everything we could to help her, and then failed at the first opportunity. Some friends we were.